Sunday, October 25, 2015

As we enter the final week of October, and slowly approach the Halloween season, here's a new post that mostly takes an extended look at the credits, track listing, and interesting notes on a big new CD release! As it's a three-band split CD with very different recording and performance credits as a result, so we have to give it extra attention in this way, hence why it takes up the majority of the post. We also have a new solo song posting to check out as well, so here's what you need to know!

While I was unable to attend Saturday's "Fed Up! A Canadian Punk Rock Split" CD release party at The Algonquin Pub, I received a copy on Sunday, so what should you know? Independently released, and with artwork of outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a Big Boy parody by Destroilet drummer Matt Waples, his bandmate John Conway mastered all of the tracks, including 5 originals & 1 cover each. Going band by band, Montreal hardcore punk legends The Ripcordz supply the first six tracks, including new songs "War on Xmas", "Decide", and "Merry Crisis", and three older songs from prior releases ("Fuck The USA", "Man In Black", and a cover of Mitsou's "Bye Bye Mon Cowboy".) Frontman Paul Gott is of course on all six songs, with current bassist Matty Fortyfive & drummer Alex Roy on the three new tracks, while Alex supplies bass on "Man In Black". Ex-drummer Francois Demers is behind the kit on the older songs, while ex-bassist Chris Moroz played on "Fuck The USA", and Danny "Duke" Laflamme played bass on the cover.

For local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades, they were the only band on the split to supply six brand new recordings, all recorded with their current lineup at Mission Control Studios with producer Dustin Jones. Their songs, in order, include "Crossroads", "Fear Corps", "Frederick", "Motorwolf", and "Negative Headspace", plus a cover of defunct local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers' song "Ten Commandments", which fans may remember from their self-titled debut CD from 2000 (albeit simply called "Commandments", though it was the tenth track.) You don't see a local band cover another unrelated local band every day, so this should be an interesting listen, especially with one of the original artists as the producer! The final third of "Fed Up!" belongs to local hardcore punk quintet Destroilet, who self-recorded and produced their songs, including three new originals ("iBomb", "Lifer", and "Bamberg Witch Prison"), which are followed by "R.O.Y.C." and "Eternal Fire", which are holdovers from their self-titled 2012 CD, which also featured new & previously released material.

Their closing cover (also newly recorded) is of The Rebel Spell's "Murderers", and the album is dedicated in the memory of late Rebel Spell frontman Todd "Serious" Jenkins, who passed away earlier this year in a rock climbing accident. The songs feature their classic & current lineup (Brent Ellis did indeed leave the band), while both "Bamberg Witch Prison" & "Murderers" feature guest backing vocals (Jack Spades' Johnny Belanger is on both, Mike Denisch is on the former, and both Billy Bastards guitarist Greg Beharriel & Joni Radford are on the latter.) Copies of "Fed Up!" can now be bought for $10 via contacting band members directly, or at their next concerts to be announced, and I'm unsure about in-store availability at The Rad Zone yet. Online posts have hinted at an online digital release to come, so stay tuned for full details (and you can stream "Murderers" and the older songs online, including at Destroilet's Bandcamp page!)

While it is a little odd that over a quarter of the split is comprised of previously released material, it's great to see this highly anticipated CD finally released, and and I'd consider it the highest profile local split CD in recent memory, so be sure to pick it up A.S.A.P. in case it has a limited print run! And yes, we are reviewing it on the site this week, definitely by Thursday, so look for it in the coming days, and thanks again to J.D. and Blair for hooking me up at a difficult time! I had to miss the release show due to family health concerns, but I believe Local2 was on hand, so keep an eye out for their coverage, and check personal Facebook pages for more media!

We'll close this post with a new solo original recording by ex-Despised Eyes/Death Rise guitarist Willis Tholberg, as uploaded to his YouTube channel on Thursday! His only music upload there at the moment (the rest of his postings are video game related or not metal), this instrumental is called "A Forgotten Mountain", and is shows his songwriting ability that fans of his older bands may not have seen much of! I'm getting a bit of a Life's Eclipse-meets-doom metal vibe, and if he can tighten it up and add vocals & real drums, he'd be on to something! Give it a listen below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news this week, plus our review of "Fed Up!" in the coming days! Thanks everyone!